860d.01/50
Memorandum of the Third Assistant Secretary of State (Long)
The Minister of Finland called today and asked that Finland be accorded recognition as a Government de jure. He said that a constitution had been adopted; that officers had been elected under it; that those officers were now in authority, and extending their authority under the constitution over the whole of Finland; that his Government was in a sound economic and financial condition, and had a coordinate political control. He left with me several memoranda6 and asked that they be considered by the Department, and that he be given some answer on his request. I told him that the matter would have very careful consideration by the Department, and that we would communicate with him.7
- Not printed.↩
- In an attached memorandum, dated Aug. 18, the Second Assistant Secretary of State, A. A. Adee, suggests: “If it is deemed advisable to recognize the present Government of Finland as the established Government of Finland, this may be done very simply by the President receiving Mr. Saastamoinen as the ‘Minister of Finland,’ instead of the Minister of the de facto Finnish Government.”↩